The Garden of Good and Evil

Garden pictures finally! Here you can see the
front porch and the area around the sidewalk
and front corner. There is purple sage planted
by the walkway lights as well as hosta.
I have now added some yellow, white, and red
mums to the mix. The porch has some planters
that had peonies which have died off and have
been replaced by yellow and white mums. There
is also a fountain--see picture below for a better
look.



Here you can see the fountain better. It lights up at night and looks really pretty in the corner where nothing else seems to grow. However, it seems a family of bees
has taken up residence near the fountain now. I'll have to have Tim see what he can do about that.



My mailbox planter that I think looks really nice. I have planted two different varieties of perennial violets here. After getting them cut back this last weekend, they are really growing back in nicely. There are a couple of bare spots, but I hope that will fill in with time.

This is the front bed that has been pretty

much planted for the last couple of years.
There is a dogwood bush on the left corner.
The big stuff in the back are lilies that need
dividing this fall. There are some daisies in
there as well. We have added mums, violets,
and periwinkle this year.

This is the sidebed that I'm calling my rose garden. We transplanted four rose bushes that I had planted in back the previous year and added three climbing roses and English ivy in front. There is some type of ornamental grass in the back to see things off and give the bed a more finished look. The roses seem to do really well here.

This is the back bed. It doesn't look like much here. We planted purple sage and yellow calylilies. However, between the hot sun and something eating the calylilies, they have all died off. I have now added two butterfly bushes on each side on the recommendation of a nursery in the area as well as some cheddar pinks, ornamental oregano and tickseed. This is the bed of trial and error. Because of the west afternoon sun, I guess I will have to be more careful about what goes in here. We'll see what lives next year and go from there.

Not a very good picture of the arbor. The colors on the house are due to the camera and the afternoon sun. When Tim can figure out how things are to work, the sides will be finished with a low black wrought iron fence. This should give a more defined pathway into the backyard and look more pleasant than the gate did.

Next: Planting around the fence line with bushes and trees!

In other news, I have now lost 30 pounds! I haven't really lost much in the last 4-6 weeks, but I have maintained the loss--not putting it all back on. I just haven't felt like following my diet plan or even eating much at all with this heat! Plus, all this work outside has made me thirsty so I drink a lot of water instead of eating. I still have about 70-80 pounds to lose and I know it will come off eventually. I've just been really pleased with the progress on the landscaping this year. And the downstairs bathroom looks really nice. All that's left is the casing around the door and a little decorating (just a couple of pictures waiting for framing). Work is the same--we always seem to be short-staffed and when other units are short, they pull from us because we have the most staff--but we also have the most patients. The move to the new building will be in September--I hope most of that is done when I'm on vacation!

That's it for now. Hope it was enough!!!